The US Marine Corps turned 242 years old on November 10.

"At places like Trenton, Tripoli, Chapultepec, Belleau Wood, Guadalcanal, Chosin, Khe Sanh, Fallujah, Sangin, and so many others, Marines have fought with an inner spirit — a spirit that bonds us, binds us together as a cohesive team. It's that intangible spirit that has formed the foundation of our warfighting reputation for the past 242 years," Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller said in a message this year.

Below, you can see some of the best photos from the Marine Corps' storied history, pulled from its archives.

Amanda Macias composed an earlier version of this post.

SEE ALSO: Step aboard the USS Kearsarge, the US Navy workhorse that takes Marines to war

Created in 1798, the Marine Corps band was called "The President's Own" by President Thomas Jefferson during his inaugural ball. Since then, it has played at every presidential inauguration. Here's the band in 1893.

In the early 1900s, Marines were active in China and in the Philippines. This photo, from 1907, shows Marines in front of the Sphinx in Egypt.

These Marines are posing with a German trench mortar captured in France in 1918. Mortars were especially useful because a mortar round could be aimed to fall directly into the trenches that criss-crossed World War I battlefields.

US Marines are returning to 'old stomping grounds' in Iraq to fight an evolving enemy

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74 years ago, US Marines waded into 'the toughest battle in Marine Corps history' — here are 25 photos of the brutal fight for Tarawa

SEE ALSO: It's been 77 years since the Battle of Britain — here are 14 photos of the Nazi onslaught in the skies over England

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NOW WATCH: Rare color film shows what it was like for Marines during WWII, the Vietnam War, and the Korean War

US Marine and Fortune 500 CEO coach Andrew Wittman explains how he used intermittent fasting to get a lot more toned and finally see his abs. Following is a transcript of the video.

Andrew Wittman: Back in — when I was deployed, I want to say 2010, 2011, coming up to where it was my 45th birthday, I wanted to see my abs. I'm reading all the studies on how you get your body to do that. There was a lot of research on intermittent fasting, and — course, they did the studies on soldiers. Thank you, US Army. 

So they found out your body really doesn't go into starvation mode. You could go 3 weeks on 800 calories and you don't lose any muscle mass as long as you're working out. Well, I could do that. So I started the fasting, the intermittent fasting, consuming my calories between 4 o'clock in the afternoon, 8 o'clock at night, by 8 o'clock at night, I'm done. I don't eat again until 4 o'clock the next day at the earliest. 

And during that time I will drink lots of water. I'll drink black coffee or unsweet tea, and that's pretty much it. I started in Kosovo — we deployed, I can tell you the dates. It was my wife's birthday, February 3. I got back on May the first, I think. I followed this routine for right about 3 months, 12 weeks, 90 days, and I saw my abs... Booyah. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: This video was originally published on June 10, 2017.

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We are all familiar with the most common form of the US military salute, a respective gesture from a military personnel raising her right hand to eye level. But many may not know where it comes from. In fact, the origins of the US military salute isn't a clear-cut case. Editor of Army Officer's Guide and Acting Secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission, Robert J. Dalessandro, shares his insight about the complicated history of the military salute. Following is a transcript of the video.

Robert J. Dalessandro: The origin of the military salute that we use in all the armed services of the United States is really shrouded in mystery. We really don't get a good look at what the quote, unquote customs, and traditions are until the Army spells them out around World War I.

In the Army, we say that the tradition certainly goes back to Roman times. If you've ever seen any of the Roman movies, the Romans would sometimes slap their chest and put their arm up in the air as a matter of salute. And they say that that salute had an origin to show allegiance from your heart and then to show that you didn't have a weapon in your fighting hand — that your hand was open and that you're a friend. That's one of the very early origin stories.

There's a second one. One is that in the times of the knight. A knight who saw a friendly knight or to pay tribute to a king would raise the visor of his helmet, to let that person see their face. And then, show an open hand, again that they didn't have a sword in their hand.

If you think about the act of grabbing the visor of your helmet and lifting it up to show your face, and you think about today's salute where the right arm is taken up and touches the brim of your headgear, helmet, or soft hat, that is very similar to this medieval era days of knights.

I would say those are the two most common origin stories of the salute. We know that all of these legends and myths that have been passed down to us on how the salute started — they have in common the idea of showing that you are not hostile to the person you're approaching, that you don't have a weapon in your hand, and that you are in fact a person that wants to speak with, and perhaps honor the person you are approaching.

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Former Navy SEAL Clint Emerson, author of "100 Deadly Skills: The SEAL Operative's Guide to Eluding Pursuers, Evading Capture, and Surviving Any Dangerous Situation," explains how you can make your home more secure. Following is a transcript of the video. 

Clint Emerson: We tend to look at home security as just our home, the locks, and the alarm system. But the reality is there’s more layers than that that start well outside your front yard. So first is communicating with your neighbors and becoming friends again. That way if you see an odd car or a person that doesn’t belong there someone can make a phone call to either 911 or to you while you’re at work and let you know “Hey, there’s something going on in your driveway.”

It’s not so much about the bolt that goes in the door as it is the door frame. Reinforce your door frames with two and a half inch to three-inch wood screws. That’ll basically turn the door into a one kick and open to a five kick and open. Your illumination on your house, you want to light it up. Anytime I was operating against bad guys and the target was lit up. It makes you feel almost naked and it’s the last thing a bad guy wants to feel when he’s approaching your home.

Burglars can not stand animals or kids, both are unpredictable. So if you can litter your yard with toys, that’ll keep a lot of daytime burglars away or if you can put up some hint that you have a dog, whether you do or not, will also keep them away.

Produced by Eames Yates. 

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Move over, 355-ship Navy.

The Marine Corps is working to build up its own sizable fleet of boats as it postures itself for future combat in shallow coastal waters and dispersed across large stretches of land and water.

Maj. Gen. David Coffman, the Navy's director of expeditionary warfare, said the service wants to find new ways to put conventional forces on small watercraft for operations ranging from raids to insertions and river operations.

Typically, small boats have been the territory of Marine Corps and Navy special operations and specialized forces such as the coastal riverines.

But, Coffman said, he has received guidance from Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller to change that.

"If we were to claim any moniker, we want to be the father of the 1,000-boat Navy," Coffman said at a Navy League event near Washington, D.C., in late November.

Currently, he said, Naval Expeditionary Warfare is resource sponsor to about 800 small boats, including combatant craft, Rigid-Hulled Inflatable Boats, and smaller craft. While the precise numbers desired haven't been settled on, he suggested 1,000 boats is close to what's needed.

"The Marine Corps largely got out of what we call itty bitty boats ... the commandant wants us to get back in the boat business," Coffman said. "He's recognizing he needs to distribute his force and be able to move in smaller discrete elements and different ways."

The strategy for employing these boats is still being developed, but Coffman said the Marine Corps wants to be able to cover a wider range of maritime operations. The service, he said, likely wants to develop a family of small boats, ranging from high-tech combatant craft like those used in special operations to lower-end craft for harbor escorts and troop transport.

A good starting point for discussion, he said, is the 11-meter Rigid-Hulled Inflatable Boat, or RHIB, used by the Navy SEALs for a variety of missions and by Naval Expeditionary Warfare for things like maritime interdiction and transport to and from larger ships.

That design, Coffman said, would be easy to "sex up or simple down" as needed.

For the Marine Corps, small boat employment has largely focused on protecting larger ships, Coffman told Military.com in a brief interview.

"A lot of my theme is trying to flip the script, move from defensive to offensive," he said.

With the Navy's riverine forces increasingly employed in the Middle East to defend ships, there's less availability for other small boat missions that could press the advantage. But with an investment in a new family of watercraft, that could change.

"That's part of how you counter the peer threat: 'I'll out-asymmetric you,' " Coffman said. "So [Neller is] excited about that, that work's going to happen."

Editor's Note: The third paragraph has been updated to correct Maj. Gen. David Coffman's rank.

SEE ALSO: Afghanistan wants the US to send the A-10 back to fight the Taliban

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Marines traditionally carry out their attacks from the sea. In fact, their most legendary battles started with amphibious assaults: Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, and even Chosin.

Practicing for such assaults was a regular thing, but between the War on Terror and budget cuts, the 1st Marine Division and 3rd Marine Air Wing hadn’t carried out an exercise like this in a while. According to a report from the Orange County Register, though, that has since changed.

The 3rd Marine Air Wing’s “Winter Fury” exercise, involving AV-8B Harriers, F/A-18 Hornets, AH-1Z Vipers, UH-1Y Venoms, CH-53 Sea Stallions, MV-22 Ospreys, and KC-130J Hercules tanker/transports alongside drones, like the MQ-9 Reaper and MQ-21 Blackjack, has been combined with the 1st Marine Division’s “Steel Knight” exercise, which involves a battalion of infantry and supporting assets.

This is the first time in a decade that these exercises have been combined.

The exercise simulates storming ashore to create an air field and refueling point behind enemy lines. In essence, it’s a smaller-scale version of the 1950 Inchon landing, a key battle in the initial United Nations counter-attack of the Korean War that saw nearly all of North Korea liberated from the regime of Kim Il-Sung.

In World War II, the Marine Corps carried out similar operations throughout the “island hopping” campaign, often bypassing large numbers of Japanese troops, leaving the outposts to “wither on the vine.”

During the Cold War, the Marines practiced similar operations for use in Norway against a Soviet invasion. Even in the War on Terror, the Marine Corps carried out a similar operation when they seized Camp Rhino from the Taliban.

SEE ALSO: 74 years ago, US Marines waded into 'the toughest battle in Marine Corps history' — here are 25 photos of the brutal fight for Tarawa

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NOW WATCH: Watch the US Marines place a temporary bridge across the Colorado River

Former Navy SEAL Clint Emerson, author of "100 Deadly Skills: The SEAL Operative's Guide to Eluding Pursuers, Evading Capture, and Surviving Any Dangerous Situation," explains why it can be healthy for you to end a shower with cold water.

Following is a transcript of the video.

Clint Emerson: Cold water will wake you up, without a doubt, and it will keep you awake.

But it has more health benefits than anything else. In SEAL training you spend a lot of time in cold water and there's actually some science to the madness of putting us in cold water. One, the reason professional athletes do it all the time after a workout is it increases recovery. It vasoconstricts the entire body, squeezing out all of that lactic acid so that you can feel good to go the next day and be ready for the next day training.

That cold water is therapy. Even though it was torture, it's therapy so that it keeps you healthy, keeps your joints and inflammation down, vasoconstricts everything down and allows you to keep moving forward, hopefully without any more injury.

This video was originally published March 16, 2017.

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In all of its branches, the US military had an incredibly active 2017.

Luckily, photographers were often on hand to capture the training, combat, and downtime of the men and women in uniform.

We've broken out the best photos of each of the military's five branches — Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard. Now, we want to highlight the best of the best, 50 images that show the wide range of what military life entails.

Check the amazing photos out below:

SEE ALSO: We took a rare tour of one of the US Navy's most dangerous warships — nicknamed the 'Sledgehammer of Freedom'

NAVY:

See more photos of the US Navy in 2017 here >>

Sailors create snow angels on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower on January 7 after returning home from a deployment.

A member of the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 5 traverses a mud-filled pit while participating in the endurance course at the Jungle Warfare Training Center in Okinawa, Japan, on February 17.

The Marine Corps is doing away with its 0351 infantry assaultman military occupational specialty and phasing out the assault section of Marine rifle companies in an effort to build up communities such as cyber and electronic warfare, Military.com has learned.

Commandant Gen. Robert Neller, who confirmed planning in December while on an annual tour of deployed Marine elements around the world, said he expects the move to happen in the next three to five years as part of a slate of changes designed to help the Corps prepare for future fights.

The 0351 infantry assaultman, one of the Marine Corps' five core infantry positions, is tasked with breaching, demolition, and rocket fire against fortified positions. Assaultmen carry the MK-153 shoulder-launched multipurpose assault weapon, or SMAW.

But Neller said he's making changes that will ensure those roles are filled by other members of a rifle company.

Each future rifle company will have an element of combat engineers aligned with it to take on breaching and demolition duties. The engineers will carry the SMAW, but they may not be the only ones.

"Can you shoot a SMAW?" Neller asked a Marine infantryman during a brief visit to elements of the Corps' crisis response task force for Africa in Moron, Spain. The Marine responded that he could not.

"Yes, you can," Neller shot back. "I could teach you in five seconds."

Neller also confirmed that the Marine Corps plans to replace the SMAW in its breaching mission with the Carl Gustaf 84mm recoilless rifle, a possibility first reported exclusively by Military.com in November. That move will likely take place in the next four years.

"It's a little more sporty [than the SMAW], but it has 10 different kinds of ammunition," Neller said. " ... Do I like the SMAW? Yes, I do. But we had to give up something to get something else."

In an interview with Military.com, Neller explained that the plan to end the 0351 MOS and the assault section is a numbers game.

Marine Corps leaders made clear in early 2017 that they wanted a significant increase in end strength: 12,000 additional troops to resource fields such as cyber, information operations, and counter-drone efforts.

The service would add 3,000 Marines in 2017 and now expects an additional 1,000, thanks to the recently signed 2018 National Defense Authorization Act. But in the absence of a major plus-up, planners are looking for trade-offs.

"We had to create some trades to buy other Marines to do other things," Neller said.

At seven Marines in a company assault section, three companies in a battalion, and 24 battalions in the Marine Corps, the move will leave more than 500 spots available in the service to fill other jobs. In addition to cyber, Neller said he's looking to build up intelligence analysis, air defense, and maintenance for ground vehicles and aviation.

It makes sense to cut the infantry assaultman MOS in part because it contains Marines of more junior ranks — private to sergeant — and its training overlaps with that of the other infantry MOSs, he said.

"The curriculum for 0311 [rifleman], 0331 [machine gunner], 0341 [mortarman], 0351 — the first 28 days is exactly the same," Neller said. "So I don't think those Marines would have a whole lot of difficulty transitioning to another MOS."

Assaultmen who re-enlist have to transition to MOS 0369, platoon sergeant, anyway, he added.

If the Marine Corps eventually does get the larger plus-up it's after, Neller said, it could always bring the assault section back. Unlike more technologically sophisticated jobs such as cyber and electronic warfare that measure professional training in years, new assaultmen take a few months to train.

"It's part of the calculus on anything you do, is how hard is it to bring it back if you cadre it," Neller said.

Maximilian Uriarte, creator of the Terminal Lance webcomic that is hugely popular within the Marine Corps, has written in the past about his time as an infantry assaultman.

"It is kind of the oddball of the infantry; no one really knows what we do or how to properly employ us," he wrote in 2010. "As a result, we are often just turned into a rifle squad or divided to be machine gunners."

Uriarte told Military.com on Monday that rumors of the coming demise of the 0351 MOS had floated around the infantry for the entirety of his career. Because of the specific, niche nature of the job, he said, 0351s end up doing other jobs on deployment. When he deployed to Iraq, he said, he ended up filling the always in-demand role of machine gunner.

"The whole idea of the job is to breach and blow open doors, and how often do you need to do that? Do you need a whole MOS for that?" he said.

But despite all that, Uriarte expressed nostalgia for the job.

"I am sad," he said. "I loved my MOS."

SEE ALSO: The Marine Corps commandant sees a 'big-ass fight' looming — and the Corps may redeploy to meet it

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NOW WATCH: Watch the US Marines place a temporary bridge across the Colorado River

The 5.56mm M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle has remained a favorite rifle of the Marine Corps for the better part of this decade.

Based on the Heckler & Koch HK416 assault rifle and adopted in 2011 to replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, it’s widely considered more versatile and accurate over a longer range than the average weapon — so much so that the Corps has even discussed replacing every infantry Marine’s M4 carbine with an IAR variant in coming years.

Now, it seems the beloved M27 is getting a deadly update. The Corps is reportedly testing a specialized version of the IAR, the M38 Squad Designated Marksman Rifle, according to photos published by the Department of Defense. (Distinct from a sniper, who is typically trained to operate independently, the squad designated marksman moves with his infantry fireteam and fulfills its sharpshooting needs.)

Adapting an M27 variant for that role could be a major step towards broader adoption across the Corps.

DoD photos published in early December show Marines with 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment conducting live-fire weapons exercises with the M38 at Camp Lejeune on Dec. 8.

Soldier Systems first surfaced the photos late last month, identifying the weapon’s optics as a Leupold TS-30A2 Mark 4 2.5-8x36mm Mid-Range/Tactical Illuminated Reticle Scope, a vast improvement over the fixed 3.5x magnification of the Trijicon TA11SDO-CP Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight (ACOG) sights atop the M27s that the Corps has previouslytested.

The new optics aren’t the only added muscle tacked onto these IARs. Each M38 appears to be decked out with a suppressor to cut muzzle noise.

The Marines have already experimented with suppressing all the weapons in a deployed infantry company, so they know it can be done. But in an era where Secretary of Defense (and mythologized former devil dog) James Mattis says more conventional troops will be doing more special-ops-style work, there are other interesting possibilities, too.

Last June, the Corps carved out an “uber squad” in Camp Lejeune’s 1st Battalion, 6th Marines for a 18- to 20-month experiment with… suppressor-equipped M27s, as well as Ops-Core helmets typically reserved for U.S. special operations forces.

So is the Corps turning all Marine infantrymen into operators? Not exactly. But the Marines sure seem interested in giving more of them the flexible capabilities that a 17-year-old, broadening War on Terror so often demands.

“In Iraq, the daily routine of patrolling in dense urban areas demonstrated a need for fast, but precision rifle fire against fleeting targets,” Joseph Trevithick writes in The War Zone. “In Afghanistan, militants often initiated engagements beyond the effective range of standard infantry weapons, especially those without magnifying optics. Repurposing the M27 with a new scope is a relatively easy way to provide this type of capability.”

And don’t forget: It’s still, like, a squad machine gun, even if it doesn’t immediately look the part. Some of the first Marine automatic riflemen to receive M27s noted, for example, that the M27’s upper and lower receiver profile blend in nicely with everybody else’s M4s — so “if you come into contact, the enemy won’t know who the machine gunner is,” one satisfied grunt told Marine Corps Times back in 2012.

So maybe there’s a new corollary coming to the old maxim, “Every Marine is a rifleman”: With the M27/M38, it’s possible every rifleman is a machine-gunner and sniper, too.

The Marine Corps and Heckler & Koch did not immediately respond to request for additional information. We will update this story with new details as they become available.

SEE ALSO: The Army expects to roll out a new targeting system that can turn artillery into a 'giant sniper rifle' this year

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NOW WATCH: Step aboard the USS Kearsarge, the US Navy workhorse that takes Marines to war

WASHINGTON (AP) — On a summer morning in a desolate corner of Iraq’s western desert, Jim Mattis learned he’d narrowly evaded an assassination attempt.

A Sunni Arab man had been caught planting a bomb on a road shortly before Mattis and his small team of Marines passed by. Told the captured insurgent spoke English, Mattis decided to talk to him.

After Mattis offered a cigarette and coffee, the man said he tried to kill the general and his fellow Marines because he resented the foreigner soldiers in his land. Mattis said he understood the sentiment but assured the insurgent he was headed for Abu Ghraib, the infamous US-run prison. What happened next explains the point of the story.

“General,” the man asked Mattis, “if I am a model prisoner do you think someday I could emigrate to America?”

In Mattis’ telling, this insurgent’s question showed he felt “the power of America’s inspiration.” It was a reminder of the value of national unity.

Mattis, now the Pentagon boss and perhaps the most admired member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, is a storyteller. And at no time do the tales flow more easily than when he’s among the breed he identifies with most closely — the men and women of the military.

The anecdote about the Iraqi insurgent, and other stories he recounted during a series of troop visits shortly before Christmas, are told with purpose.

“I bring this up to you, my fine young sailors, because I want you to remember that on our worst day we’re still the best going, and we’re counting on you to take us to the next level,” he said. “We’ve never been satisfied with where America’s at. We’re always prone to looking at the bad things, the things that aren’t working right. That’s good. It’s healthy, so long as we then roll up our sleeves and work together, together, together, to make it better.”

The stories tend to be snippets of Mattis’ personal history, including moments he believes illustrate the deeper meaning of military service.

On a trip last month to the US Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and three domestic military installations, Mattis revealed himself in ways rarely seen in Washington, where he has studiously maintained a low public profile. With no news media in attendance except one Associated Press reporter, Mattis made clear during his troop visits that he had not come to lecture or to trade on his status as a retired four-star general.

“Let’s just shoot the breeze for a few minutes,” he said at one point.

Another time he opened with: “My name is Mattis, and I work at the Department of Defense.”

Mattis used stories to emphasize that today’s uncertain world means every military member needs to be ready to fight at a moment’s notice.

He recalled the words of a Marine sergeant major when Mattis was just two years into his career:

“Every week in the fleet Marine force is your last week of peace,” the sergeant major said. “If you don’t go into every week thinking like this, you’re going to have a sick feeling in the bottom of your stomach when your NCOs (non-commissioned officers) knock on your door and say, ‘Get up. Get your gear on. We’re leaving.’”

By leaving, Mattis meant departing for war.

A recurring Mattis theme is that the military operates in a fundamentally unpredictable world. He recalled how he was hiking with his Marines in the Sierra Nevada in August 1990 when he got word to report with his men to the nearest civilian airport. Iraq’s Saddam Hussein had just invaded Kuwait, and the Marines were needed to hold the line in Saudi Arabia.

In an exchange with Marines at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Mattis recalled sitting in the back of a room at the Pentagon in June 2001 while senior political appointees of the new George W. Bush administration fired questions at a military briefer about where they should expect to see the most worrisome security threats. At one point, Mattis said, the briefer said confidently that amid all the uncertainty, the one place the US definitely would not be fighting was Afghanistan.

“Five and a half months later, I was shivering in Afghanistan,” Mattis said, referring to his role as commander of Task Force 58, a special group that landed in southern Afghanistan aboard helicopters flown from Navy ships in the Arabian Sea to attack the Taliban in and around Kandahar.

Regardless how much they resonate with his young audience, Mattis’ stories illustrate how he sees his military experience as a way to connect with troops who often feel distant from their political leaders. They also are a reminder Mattis’ boss is one of the most politically divisive figures in recent history.

Speaking to troops and family members at an outdoor movie theater at Guantanamo, Mattis pointed directly to the political battles.

“I’m so happy to be in Guantanamo that I could cry right now, to be out of Washington,” he said, adding jokingly that he wouldn’t mind spending the rest of his tenure away from the capital. He said as soon as he gets back in the company of uniformed troops, he is reminded of why the military can set a standard for civility.

“Our country needs you,” he said, and not just because of the military’s firepower. “It’s also the example you set for the country at a time it needs good role models; it needs to look at an organization that doesn’t care what gender you are, it doesn’t care what religion you are, it doesn’t care what ethnic group you are. It’s an organization that can work together.”

SEE ALSO: 78 years ago, the B-24 Liberator took its first flight — here's how it helped bring down the Nazis

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NOW WATCH: The US spent $611 billion on its military in 2016 — more than the next 8 countries combined

The Army's and Marine Corps' latest uniform changes hint at preparations for a looming 'big-ass war'

SEE ALSO: Trump wants to ramp up US arms sales, and a top diplomat is pushing weapons deals in China's backyard

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NOW WATCH: The US spent $611 billion on its military in 2016 — more than the next 8 countries combined

• Arms maker NAMMO is working on an upgraded round for the M72 Light Anti-Tank Weapon (LAW) that will all-but eliminate backblast.
• Marine Lance Cpl. Sam Elichalt told Defense News that the new round is a "game changer" after testing it out during the Urban-ANTX 18 urban warfare exercise.
• Elichalt also said that Marines no longer have to worry about overpressurization when firing from inside a building or a room, and won't have to worry "having to expose themselves to enemy fire."

First adopted by the Army and Marine Corps at the height of the Vietnam War, the M72 Light Anti-Tank Weapon (LAW) has remained a staple of infantry arsenals and action movies for over a half-century.

Lightweight and reliable, the 66mm rocket system has a reputation for fantastic results. When Dirty Harry and Rambo are in the mood to make an explosive entrance, they lay down the LAW.

Now, Marines may get their chance to test a new and improved version of the tried-and-true M72 round. Defense News reports that arms maker NAMMO is working on an upgrade that wouldn’t just offer a suite of adjustments to fire control but purportedly all-but eliminate backblast, the heat and overpressure created by each round that can limit the use of anti-tank weapons like the M72 in combat.

While there’s no explicit request for additional M72 LAW systems in the Corps’ fiscal 2019 budget request, troops with the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment reportedly got a chance to test out the new rockets during the Urban-ANTX 18 urban warfare exercise and deemed the new rounds “a game changer,” as Lance Cpl. Sam Elichalt told Defense News:

Because the new upgrade has no backblast Marines no longer have to worry about overpressurization when firing from inside a building or a room.

That reduces the chance of injury and now Marines can fire the rockets without “having to expose themselves” to enemy fire, Elichalt said.

Backblast occurs when pressure builds inside the chamber of the launch tube after a rocket is fired. The gases that create that pressure rupture out the back end of the launcher.

For the shoulder-fired AT-4 — manufactured by Swedish company Saab Bofors Dynamics — a backblast area can extend nearly 300 feet. Before firing, Marines are trained to check and yell “backblast are all clear” to ensure no Marines are directly behind the weapon.

This is a very good description! But here’s a more visceral picture of what it looks like when you don’t check to make sure your backblast area isn’t clear:

And that’s not even involving standing directly behind someone! Backblast in an enclosed area, deflected by walls and other structures, and catch combat troops unawares. Observe:

Of course, it’s not like NAMMO suddenly found a way to neutralize the laws of physics: As The War Zone notes, the upgrade only makes it “safer” to use, with potential danger within 230 feet of the M72’s booty during operations. But the reduced backblast allows troops to unleash on light armored vehicles from fortified, enclosed positions without extra risk; considering that the new system is lighter, quieter (by 12 decibels), and “has less flash than a pistol,” as Defense News reports, the upgrade ostensibly offers an increase in lethality with less risk of opening troops up to enemy fire.

It’s unclear exactly what the Corps’ future re-embrace of the M72 will look like. But if the new system offers the departure from previous anti-tank rockets that NAMMO says it does, it certainly won’t look like this:

SEE ALSO: The US Army is looking to put a massive 40mm cannon on its Bradleys and Strykers

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(Reuters) - A U.S. Marine helicopter crashed during a training mission in southern California Tuesday afternoon and all four crew members are believed to have died, a Marine spokeswoman announced.

No details about the nature of the training mission were released other than it was routine and held in the desert in El Centro, Ca., about 100 miles east of San Diego.

The helicopter was a Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion from the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing based at the Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar, Ca., according to a statement from the Marines.

It is the largest and heaviest "heavy-lift" helicopter in the U.S. military.

The accident is under investigation and no other information was available.

The wreck is the deadliest Marine accident since a cargo plane crash in the Mississippi Delta that killed 16 Marines in July, 2017.

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NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — A senior Marine Corps official confirmed today that the service is lockstep with the Army's effort to search for a rifle round more potent than the current 5.56mm round.

For months, senior Army officials have been telling Congress that the current 5.56 mm Enhanced Performance Round is not potent enough to penetrate enemy body armor plates similar to US military-issue rifle plates such as the Enhanced Small Arms Protective Insert, or ESAPI.

As a solution, the Army is experimenting with a plan to replace its M249 squad automatic weapon and M4 carbine with futuristic weapons that fire a 6.5mm case-telescoped round or something that falls between a 5.56mm and a 7.62mm round.

The Marine Corps, which recently decided to buy more M27 5.56 mm Infantry Automatic Rifles, has not publicly echoed the Army's concern with 5.56 mm until now.

"We are working the Army; we have looked at the 6.5 mm Creedmoor with the Army and [Special Operations Command]," Brig. Gen. Joseph Shrader, commander of Marine Corps Systems Command, told Military.com at the annual Sea-Air-Space exposition Wednesday.

"We are lockstep with them looking at a new round."

Shrader, however, said he did not know if the effort would mean a new infantry weapon for the Marine Corps.

Lt. Gen. John Murray, deputy chief of staff for Army G8, told Congress in February that the Army already has a science and technology demonstration weapon, made by Textron Systems.

The working 6.5 mm prototype has evolved out of Textron's light and medium machine guns that fire 5.56 mm and 7.62 mm case-telescoped ammunition developed under the Lightweight Small Arms Technology program.

Over the last decade, the Army has invested millions in the development of the program, which has now been rebranded to Textron's Case-Telescoped Weapons and Ammunition.

While the Textron weapon is "too heavy," Murray said the Army has opened the effort up to industry to come in and develop new prototypes for testing.

The Army had planned on fielding a the new Next Generation Squad Weapon by 2025 or 2026, but the service has now accelerated the effort to have some kind of initial capability by 2022 or 2023 at the latest, Army officials say.

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• Norway is considering whether to ask the US to extend the deployment of Marines to the country.
• The US has already expressed interest in an extension, Norway's defense minister said in March.
• Marines in Norway are focused on training for cold-weather operations — training motivated in part by increasing tensions with Russia.

Norway's government may ask the US to extend a Marine Corps deployment in the country, Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide told Reuters.

"We are currently in a phase where we are discussing different options, but I think from our point of view it has been very useful and very successful," she said.

Contingents of about 300 Marines from various units have been stationed in Norway for six-month deployments. The first rotational force arrived at Vaernes in central Norway in January 2017 — the first time a foreign force was stationed on Norwegian soil since World War II (though Norway and the Marine Corps have managed weapons and equipment stored in caves there since the Cold War).

The deployment has already been extended, with the initial rotational force being replaced by another in August 2017. The roughly 330 Marines in the country are now scheduled to stay until the end of the year.

Marines in Norway have focused on cold-weather training, doing exercises with Norwegians and other partner forces. Some of those exercises have taken place near Norway's border with Russia, which has criticized the Marines' presence in Norway. Russia's embassy in Norway told Reuters that extending the Marines' presence would worsen Norway's relations with Moscow and could raise tensions on NATO's northern boundary.

"The Americans have been very happy with how things have played out," Soereide said. "They do see after many years where they had a lack of winter training and expertise of wintry conditions ... they are now, to a larger extent, able to deal with the cold."

Norwegian Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen said in March that the US was interested in continuing the deployment and that his government hoped to make a decision on it in the coming months.

The Pentagon "would like to extend the [deployment] and they would like to see whether we could increase," he told Defense News during a visit to Washington. "We will look into it and give them an answer in, before the summer ... that's my ambition."

A 'big-ass fight'

The Norway deployments are part of efforts across the US military to increase training for cold-weather operations.

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert B. Neller said in January that US forces "haven't been in the cold-weather business for a while."

"Some of the risks and threats there," he said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "There is a possibility we are going to be there."

During a visit with Marines stationed in Norway at the end of 2017, Neller was more blunt in his assessment.

Telling Marines in the country to remain ready to fight at all times, he said he foresaw a "big-ass fight" on the horizon, according to Military.com. "I hope I'm wrong, but there's a war coming," Neller said. "You're in a fight here, an informational fight, a political fight, by your presence."

Neller added that he believed the US military's focus would shift away from the Middle East in the coming years, with the Marines in particular focusing on the Pacific and Russia.

Norway is one of many countries that have expressed concern about an increasingly assertive Russia, especially in the years since the Russian occupation of Crimea.

Norwegian military officials have publicly discussed ways to counter Russian armor— apparently "breaking a taboo among Western military officials" by doing so. And Oslo has sought to boost its military spending.

In 2017, Norway decided to buy five P-8 maritime surveillance aircraft, bringing it closer to the US and the UK, with whom it maintained a surveillance network over the North Atlantic during the Cold War. Norway has also teamed up with Germany to buy new submarines. In November, Oslo accepted three F-35 fighters, the first to be permanently stationed there.

Concerns about Russia military action as well as the potential for US retreat from the NATO alliance have boosted political support for Norway's increased defense spending, but opposition leaders have still criticized the way it's been financed and questioned what role US troops will have.

Soereide, Norway's foreign minister, told Reuters that Oslo did not see Russia as a military threat and that the risk of war in the Arctic was "low." But she did say her government saw challenges poised by Russia actions, particularly in the area of civil society, rule of law, and democracy.

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Fighting in the dark has always been a difficult task in warfare, but with the invention of night vision, soldiers, sailors, and airmen can conduct their operations almost as well as they can during the day.

Photos captured while the US military performs nighttime training provide viewers with a unique look into the world of war. Military equipment, as well as the troops themselves, takes on a unique coloring when seen outside of the light of day.

Here are 26 striking photos of the US military operating at night:

The US Navy guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey fires a Tomahawk land attack missile.

A C-130 Hercules from the 36th Airlift Squadron conducts a night flight mission over Yokota Air Base, Japan.

Aircraft land aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise during nighttime flight operations in the Arabian Sea.

The Marine Corps has officially launched an investigation into a lance corporal who apparently attacked a protester at the Charlottesville “Unite The Right” rally while marching with white supremacist groups.

Lance Cpl. Vasillios Pistolis, 18, was outed as a member of a neo-Nazi group known as Atomwaffen Division in an article published Thursday by ProPublica. According to the site, Pistolis bragged about attacking a woman at the rally in Aug. 2017, where he was photographed in a black track suit carrying a Confederate battle flag.

Pistolis, a water support technician, is currently on active duty serving with Combat Logistics Battalion-8, Combat Logistics Regiment 2, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Multiple calls to leaders in the Marine’s unit went unanswered.

1st Lt. Samir Gleen-Roundree, a spokesman for 2nd MLG, told Task & Purpose an investigation has been initiated.

Here’s the full statement:

“2nd Marine Logistics Group was made aware of an allegation pertaining to a Marine in an MLG unit potentially involved in a supremacist organization.

This matter is being reviewed by the command, and an investigation has been opened by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) to determine the facts surrounding the allegation.

Participation in extremist activities or organizations is inconsistent with the core values of the Marine Corps. 2nd MLG takes this allegation seriously, and the matter is under investigation.”

Jeff Schogol contributed reporting.

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